60 MEETING OF INSPECTORS OF APTARIES. 
that the work of the inspector is far from easy. Many bee keepers 
criticize the work of the inspector as soon as their apiaries are exam- 
ined, and fault is found with inspection and the inspectors. It is the 
duty of the bee keeper to uphold the inspector as long as he is doing 
honest work for the bee-keeping industry. The salary paid an 
inspector is in most cases smaller than the income he could make by 
remaining at home and doing the required work in his own apiary, 
so that inspection is usually done at a financial loss to the inspector. 
Mr. J. M. Rankin (California). It has been my privilege since 
May, 1905, to be in touch with bee-disease work on the Pacific coast. 
During this time I have visited many diseased apiaries throughout 
the State of California. 
Few eastern people have an adequate conception of the bee-keeping 
industry in California. It is not an uncommon thing for one man to 
own 4,000 colonies of bees. This, of course, puts the business on an 
entirely different footing than in the East. In the same way, condi- 
tions of disease are also different. The control of American foul 
brood among so many colonies becomes a much more difficult proposi- 
tion than it is where the bee keeper owns only fifty to seventy-five col- 
onies. There seems to be no doubt, also, that the American foul brood 
is much more virulent in California than in the East. Whether this 
is due to some climatic condition or not, I do not know. I have seen 
an apiary showing only slight infection in February become almost 
a total wreck in August. In California, also, the bees fly nearly 300 
out of the 365 days in the year, and the honey flow in most parts of 
the State is of comparatively short duration. This makes conditions 
favorable for more rapid infection than in colder climates where the 
bees are confined to their hives during about half of the year. 
Under such conditions you can readily see that treating the disease 
is difficult. It must be done at exactly the right time and under fay- 
orable conditions or the treatment is worse than useless. Some of 
the best inspectors in California use the shaking treatment, and all of 
them shake twice, as well as disinfect the contaminated hives. There 
ure some few men who do not believe in treating by this method and 
who burn all diseased colonies, only saving hives when these are in 
good condition. In counties where bees can be bought for 50 cents 
a swarm it may not be a bad plan to destroy all diseased colonies, as 
this is certainly an effective treatment if the burning is complete. 
A treatment very favorably thought of by some is that of thor- 
oughly boiling all diseased material. A large tank is used and the 
diseased colonies, after having been sulphured the night before, are 
carried to the tank and all the combs thrown in. After all the wax is 
melted, the frames are removed from the tank and placed on the fire 
under the tank as fuel. This is certainly an effective way of eradi- 
